.&SCULACE/E. 



ing the insertions of the filaments. Stamens as in the male. Ovary 

 superior, ovate, 3-celled, with one ascending ovule in each cell. Style 

 short. Stigma 3-cleft, recurved, slender, downy. Drupe the size of a 

 nutmeg, a little pointed, covered with a tender, dry, grey pericarp. 

 Seeds 1, 2, or 3, oblong, smooth, at the base obliquely truncate, and 

 there affixed, each surrounded with its proper, whitish, pulpy aril, which 

 is of a pleasant acid taste, and most grateful during dry weather. — 

 Bark astringent ; rubbed up with oil the natives of India use it to cure 

 the itch. The pulpy subacid aril is edible and palatable. 



^SCULACE^E. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 84. 



^ISCULUS. 



Calyx campanulate. Petals 4-5, expanded, with an ovate 

 limb. Filaments curved inwards. Capsules prickly. — Leaflets 

 sessile or nearly so. 



246. JE. Hippocastanum Linn. sp. pi. 488. DC. prodr. i. 597. 

 N. and E. handb. iii. p. . pi. med. t. 375. S. and C. ii. t. 68. 

 — North of India? Persia? More likely some of the north- 

 eastern provinces of Turkey. 



A middle sized round-headed tree. Leaves opposite, long-stalked, 

 digitate ; leaflets obovate-lanceolate, acuminate, rather thin and rugose, 

 coarsely and irregularly serrated, increasing in size from the end to 

 the centre. Calyx^light green, campanulate, obtusely 5-toothed. Petals 

 5, white, oblong, unguiculate, fringed, wavy, with a small red spot 

 above the claw. Filaments shorter than the petals, subulate ; anthers 

 reddish brown, oblong. Capsule roundish, prickly, thick and tough, 

 3-valved, 1-2-3-celled, containing 1-2-3 large, oblong, deep chesnut- 

 brown seeds, with a large broad space forming a hilum. Embryo curved ; 

 radicle bent down towards the hilum upon the thick fleshy cotyledons 

 which are wrinkled and firmly consolidated. — Bark recommended as a 

 valuable febrifuge in intermittent and other fevers ; it deserves to be 

 the subject of a series of well-conducted experiments; a decoction has 

 been recommended in gangrene ; and its powder as an errhine. 



124 



